Seeing Those Hours

Seeing Those Hours for Alto saxophone and piano

Paul Paccione

Seeing Those Hours Alto saxophone and piano (2004) The title alludes to the poem, “Sharp In My Heart,” by the late American poet Kenneth Rexroth. Based on a Beech Mountain folk song, Rexroth’s ballad-like poem interweaves the subjects of love, reminiscence, transience and the changing seasons.

The composition “Seeing Those Hours” is a reflection of the poem’s simple beauty and lyricism. It consists of a succession of musical “verses” or moods, each delineated by a chorale-like fermata. The varied repetition of musical material is a reflection and characterization of various shadings of poetic mood and musical reminiscence.

I do not know the original Beech Mountain folk tune that inspired Rexroth’s poem. My composition ends with my own waltz-like musical setting of the first verse of the text.

It is meant to evoke the sense of a melody heard sometime long ago.

Come oh my love and lay you down.

Come oh my love and lay you down.

The summer is gone, And the leaves turn brown.

(From “Sharp In My Heart,” by Kenneth Rexroth) The piece was recorded by saxophonist John Vana and pianist Jenny Perron. It appears on the c.d. recording “The Interactive Saxophone,” Capstone Records (2006): http://www.capstonerecords.org The score is available from Frog Peak Music, Box 1062, Lebanon, NH 03766; www.frogpeak.org).